NAME: Bayushi Hayato CLAN: Scorpion SCHOOL: Bayushi Bushi RANK: 3 Age: 24 Sex: Male Height: 5'6" Physical Description: Undernourished; looks like he never gets enough sleep; controlled, but brittle under stress. FIRE 3 AIR 4 Intelligence 3 Awareness 4 Agility 3 Reflexes 4 EARTH 3 WATER 2 Willpower 3 Perception 2 Stamina 3 Strength 3 VOID 2 GLORY 3.2 HONOR 2.1 INSIGHT 185 TN TO BE HIT: 15 (20 in armor) Wounds Dice Penalty ____(0-6) -0 ____(7-12) -1 ____(13-18) -2 ____(19-24) -3 ____(25-30) -4 ____(31-36) Down ____(37-42) Out ____(43-48) Dead Never judge a man by instinct, only by his past. SCHOOL TECHNIQUES -Bayushi Tangen Way of the Scorpion: Roll 2k2 for initiative. Pincers and Tail: Roll Agility + Kenjutsu, TN of SKILLS target's Reflexes x 5. The TN to hit them next Archery 3 Investigation 2 round is 5. Battle 2 Kenjutsu 4 Strike at the Tail: Roll Agility + Kenjutsu, TN of Calligraphy 1 Knife 1 opponent's Weapon Skill x 5 to disarm them. Two Courtier 2 Law 3 raises takes the weapon. Defense 3 Lore: Scorpion Clan 3 Etiquette 4 Poison 2 ADVANTAGES Heraldry 3 Sincerity 3 Ancestor: Bayushi (Kharmic Tie to Iuchi Li-Hsu; History 2 Stealth 2 you can spend each others' Void. If she dies, you Iaijutsu 3 Tea Ceremony 2 can never spend Void again.) Benten's Blessing (keep 1 extra die on social EQUIPMENT rolls, 2 if they are attracted to you already) Katana (Str + 3k2) with eight purple ribbons on Heart of Vengeance: Unicorn (keep 1 extra die on the saya, Wakizashi (Str + 2k2), Light armor, bow skill rolls against Unicorns) and 20 arrows, tanto (Str +1k2), fine Unicorn kimono, average Scorpion kimono, knife, 2 obi, DISADVANTAGES sandals, 20 zeni. Minor Obligation: Iuchi Ohasu (stepfather) Driven (prove yourself better than stepfather) Junshin (i.e. honorable Scorpion) HISTORY promoted others. When asked why you did not try harder, you said you did not want to be a target -- Your Family you were wiser than that and had other agendas. You don't remember much about your father, The sensei laughed and you met him late that but you know your parents' marriage was a night. He gave you an engraved teak box, saying political decision that worked. The first five years it had been waiting for you a long time. You of your life seemed blissfully happy. War was just refused; you wanted no gifts and no debts. He something in the background, something insisted, and you refused again; but the next grown-ups had been handling since before you morning you found it by your futon, opened, its were born. You didn't even know what the word contents arranged over your sword. meant until your mother ran into the house, Your father's mask. grabbed you, and escaped out the basement tunnels. Your Companions You spent the next month on horseback, You became a magistrate in Ryoko Owari retreating from castle to village to castle, until the because you heard it was teeming with wealth, wave of refugees washed up at Shiro Soshi. Less but you soon learned how little was shared with than a month later, the daimyo declared he would those who did not take bribes from opium end the war at any cost. Your mother was part of dealers. For a year you struggled under your that cost. superiors' derision, unable to make the payments Your father had done his duty behind enemy the barbarian demanded. Then the Emerald lines, and was one of many captured. He would Magistrate, Doji Himeko, offered a loan, the only be executed, his swords taken, and his wife catch that you help her grow antidotes to the forcibly married to her husband's murderer. Even smugglers' most common poisons. at five, you knew a Scorpion's response to this Working with her, you realized you were not as situation, and you waited for the day you would pure as you thought. Himeko cuffed you for a find your stepfather poisoned on the floor. month once she reviewed your record of cutting That day has yet to come. down or beating "firemen" gangs for extorting The barbarian told you all your life that he money. In that time, you thought a great deal should have killed you by right of war, and your about mercy; and the treacherous Scorpion who mother's tears were the only reason you still credited another five of their brutalities to your lived. You learned the lesson quickly, and were name. rarely beaten, except when you did something to But you are a better man now. the ratty daughter he spawned on your mother. It was only on the recommendation of a It wasn't so much that you hated her, but that mysterious benefactor that she arranged to bring you should have. Every look at Rishuko (you you with her when she left that filthy city. A letter refuse to call her that unpronounceable foreign told you to meet your patron at the bridge to word) made you ache at the injustice -- a Kyuden Doji where Satsume would give your Scorpion child, playing in the dirt like a peasant, assignments. You went... and found Rishuko. baring her arms like a prostitute... But you could "Surprise," she said. feel the potential in her, the sister you would have You left, and she followed, saying her father longed for were she truly yours. had bought the position with wealth and influence, and her using it to help you could serve Leaving Home as at least part of an apology. At your gempukku, you left them behind, Himeko kept the two of you working together walking to Kyuden Bayushi and demanding your through a few winter courts, so you were also rightful place at the bushi school. To your disgust, relieved when she switched you to supervising they granted it only when your stepfather agreed Mirumoto Seiji, the most bizarrely talented to pay for your education. Which he did... on the shugenja you've ever met. His schemes to condition that you pay him back with interest investigate murders (which seemed to crop up when it ended. wherever you went) and dispense justice weren't It did not take many months before you so much dishonorable as... crazy. Some of them realized the students there were hardly a step up. worked, like when you flushed the bandits out of Poisoners, drunkards, men who hit women... yet the temple by pretending to be Osano-Wo. You all claimed to be honorable by serving the clan. still wonder if that was blasphemy, but, hey, he's You stayed proudly in the middle of the class the shugenja... and refused to join in the dirty tricks that And Now... Soshi Shinobu: Bantaro's wife, the daughter of This was not how you planned your return to Soshi Takanori, and likely the guiding hand the lands of your childhood, but when the behind Bantaro's successes. Emerald Champion asks the services of Scorpion magistrates who know Unicorn lands, you were Shosuro Norie: An Emerald Magistrate, Norie not about to refuse. At least this time you was friendly and warm toward you at court... (through Himeko) have the legal power to control without apparent reason. You're suspicious, but the situation and make certain no more lives are her record is impeccable. ruined by the cowardice and pettiness of either side. Iuchi Kimiyo: Your mother. You adore her, but it was always uncomfortable being around a WHAT YOU THINK OF THE OTHERS woman who cried so much. At first you sympathized, but when nothing changed it made Iuchi Rishuko (Li Hsu): Uppity. Slovenly. you start to hate her. You try to stay away and Improper. You're afraid to ask where she's been preserve the memory of who she once was. half the time...but a part of you realizes it's because you're worried about her. Iuchi Kurosho: The Iuchi daimyo of your You will not turn away from the affection she parents' generation. offers, but you can never have the pure friendship she seems to want. You will never look on her Iuchi Daiyu: The current Iuchi daimyo. Rustic without seeing him, and nothing she can do will and deeply stupid, like most of them. change that. Iuchi Hiroichi: The current karo of Iuchi palace, Akodo Ryuko: The sort of bushi you want to be, which makes him your stepfather's commanding though you're careful not to show it. She's officer. intimidating in her intensity, and interesting in her innocence. You wonder what price she had to Iuchi Ohasu: Your stepfather, nearing retirement pay for perfection. age. You can always hope he got crushed under Her ward, Seppun Ichiko is a little frightening an offal cart. Perhaps shot in the back by his own in how much she already knows. You weren't half troops? that well-trained at nine. YOUR DAISHO Shiba Kiyoshi: He's helped you put things in Noting the single-minded revenge in your words, perspective, not from any effort on his part, but your sensei named your katana Jonin just from who he is. Kept a prisoner of war by the ("Sweetheart"), because it was the only graceful Matsu, he manages to harbor no hatred in his curve you would touch until your war was over. It heart. But he is not you, and his way, not yours. has a short handle, useful for fast drawing and one-handed use.